Today was an nice day to do a little exploring, trying a new trial to see where it goes. A sunny morning glinting through the trees overhead and lots of bird songs.
A few of the mushroom varieties along the trail.
At some point I must have lost the trail, but I figured "I'm going up, so I ll hopefully meet up with a marker a little higher." Eventually I found my missing trail markers and the trail. You can see the trail there, right (?), overgrown up to about my knees.
Even though I wanted to go up, this trail seemed to only angled down to my left or right. Being sensible and remembering Derek asking me to know my limits, I decided I should stick to the trail now that I found it rather than continuing up by my own.
Maybe that wasn't the right choice. Although overly-marked, this trail was just a wee-bit steep...
and interrupted by giant ant mounds...
and did I mention - steep. This was an interesting route, but I don't think I'll try this one again. The trail was steep, overgrown in places, soft with decay, lacking in any traction. I made my way down - lowering myself from exposed limestone, lunging between trees, testing each step to see how far I would slide, and grasping at roots or branches that were usually dead and unable to support any weight. With only a few ant bites, minor cuts, and near avalanche ranking fall, I eventually reached the road and an hour walk later, found myself on a familiar trail to get home. I didn't see another person until just outside town, and luckily, met my goal of not seeing any boar either, only their dirt-beds worn in the trail.
